From Abdelkader to Zuccarello – 17 April 2011

Did you work late last night? Did your significant other make you run errands while the game was on? Did your dog chew off your TV cable wires?

Have no fear – THW’s Monica McAlister has your back, covering everything in the hockey world from From Abdelkader to Zuccarello every morning. Check in daily to quickly get up to speed on all things hockey – recaps, storylines, videos and great links.

2011 NHL Playoff Coverage

Phoenix Coyotes 3 Detroit Red Wings 4 (Game 2; Red Wings lead series 2-0)

A day after the big story of the NHL trying to push out the Octopi in Detroit the NBC broadcast opened with a piece where they discussed the tradition, the etiquette and even had octopus with them on the bench at Joe Louis Arena.

Though only one of the sea creatures hit the ice after the anthem it still brought it its luck as the Red Wings beat out the Coyotes for a second straight game.

Things got off to a rough start in Detroit as Coyotes’ Shane Doan made himself a marked man after his part in a hit on Red Wings power forward Johan “Mule” Franzen. The hit saw Franzen go head first into the boards and not get up:

It was a playoff career game for Detroit’s Pavel Datsyuk. The 171st overall pick in the 1998 NHL Entry Draft put up four points and in a spectacular fashion.

A second shy of the ten minutes into the game Coyotes Martin Hanzal was given a two minute roughing and an unsportsmanlike conduct while Red Wings Dan Cleary was given a roughing penalty. The Detroit power play that followed saw Datsyuk score his second goal of the playoffs to make it 1-0 Red Wings in Detroit.

Red Wings defenseman Brian Rafalski would score on a power play after Coyotes Michal Rozsival was called for slashing to double the Red Wings lead over the visiting Coyotes.

It was in the final minute of play in the first period that Datsyuk made the play that everyone is talking about that saw Darren Helm make it 3-0 before heading to the first intermission:

The second period saw Detroit’s Tomas Holmstrom tip-in a shot from Valtteri Filppula to make it a 4-0 Red Wings lead only 1:11 into the second period; however, Detroit opt to just ride out the game rather than keep pushing and the following resulted…

Just shy of seven minutes into the second Dan Cleary took an elbowing penalty and the Coyotes took note. With a man advantage the visiting team saw Radim Vrbata put a snapshot past Jimmy Howard.

Stubborn as a Mule. Johan Franzen returned to the game and had a discussion with head coach Mike Babcock on the bench about him not wearing a visor or a cage before jumping on the ice to a standing ovation from Hockeytown:

At 18:31 of the second Franzen and Doan would take coincidental roughing minors.

The third period would belong to Doan as he would net two power play goals to bring his Coyotes within one of tying the game and forcing and overtime in Detroit. The teams headed to Phoenix last night and will face-off again tomorrow at 10:30 p.m. EST on Versus and CBC for game three.

Buffalo Sabres 4 at Philadelphia Flyers 5 (Game 2; series tied 1-1)

It was not the news Flyers fans wanted to hear that they would once again be missing Chris Pronger on the blueline; however, seeing Claude Giroux net the first goal of the game may have allowed a release of some of the anxiety.

That is until just a few minutes after the Giroux goal Kimmo Timonen took a hooking penalty that lead to a power play goal for Sabres Thomas Vanek to tie the game.

Seconds after the tying goal Scott Hartnell and Paul Gaustad were given five for fighting while Buffalo’s Patrick Kaleta and Philadelphia’s Danny Briere were given coincidental roughing penalties.
Less than a minute later Daniel Carcillo would give the Flyers the lead again with a wrist shot past Ryan Miller. Once again it would be Vanek to play the spoiler as he would net another power play goal to tie the game back up at two.

After the second Vanek goal it would be Andrej Sekera with a snapshot that would lead the Sabres past the Flyers for the first time in the game. James van Riemsdyk would have something to say about that as he would tie the game for the Flyers less than a minute after making it a 3-3 tie heading into the first intermission.

The second period would see another onslaught of penalties but neither team was able to capitalize on the man advantage until Sabires Steve Montador was called for tripping and Ville Leino put a snap shot past Miller to give the Flyers the lead.

Minutes after the Leino goal it would be Danny Briere with a goal of his own against his former team to give the Flyers a two goal lead over the Sabres before heading into the third.

The final period saw Buffalo’s Cody McCormik go backhand and bring the game within a goal for the Sabres.

With the series tied 1-1 the teams head to Buffalo for games three (tomorrow 7:00 p.m. EST on TSN and Versus) and four (Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. EST on TSN and Versus).

Montreal Canadiens 3 Boston Bruins 1 (Game 2; Canadiens lead series 2-0)

The Bruins were without captain Zdeno Chara on the blueline last night after he was hospitalized for dehydration.

They went on to put 35 shots goal against Carey Price only to have Price stand on his head for the entire 60 minutes of play and come out with a save percentage of 0.971 and the second star of the game.

Montreal’s Michael Cammalleri would net the first goal of the game only 43 seconds after the puck was dropped with a wrist shot off of a rebound given up by Tim Thomas from James Wisniewski.

It would be Bruins Dennis Seidenberg whom would draw the first penalty in the game. Just over two minutes into the game Seidenberg would be called for interference and the Canadiens would go on the power play. Cammalleri would assist on the Mathieu Darche goal to make it 2-0 for the visiting team only 2:20 into the first.

Second period would see Boston’s Milan Lucic head to the penalty box after just over four minutes had clicked off the clock; lucky for the Bruins the Canadiens did not take advantage of the power play this time.

Shortly after the Lucic penalty expired Bruins’ Patrice Bergeron would tip-in a shot from Brad Marchand to cut the Canadiens lead in half.

Yannick Weber would go backhand on Thomas late in the second period to give the Canadiens the 3-1 lead they would ride out for the entire third.

The series moves to Montreal with the Canadiens leading 2-0. You can catch game three tomorrow at 7:30 p.m. EST on CBC and RDS while game four will be on Thursday at 7:00 p.m. EST on CBC, RDS, and Versus.

Los Angeles Kings 4 San Jose Sharks 0 (Game 2; Series tied 1-1 )

Come back Kings? Maybe just a little as the Kings shutout the inner state rival Sharks to tie the series.

Penalties would get the best of San Jose in the opening period of the game. Ben Eager would take a slashing penalty that would lead to a Los Angeles power play goal from Jack Johnson as he put a slap shot past Antti Niemi. It would be the first shot Niemi would give up on the eventual 23 shots he faced from the Kings last night while his Kings counterpart Jonathan Quick would turn aside all 34 shots he faced from the Sharks.

An elbowing penalty to Sharks Ryane Clowe shortly after the Eager goal would put the Kings back on the power play. Defenseman Drew Doughty would put make it for the Kings before heading off for the first intermission

The second period would see Doughty score a second slap shot goal on Niemi to make it 3-0. Doughtry would eventually earn the first star of the game as he either scored or assisted on every goal in the game.

Sharks would head to a power play early in the third after Kings Dustin Penner would get called for roughing just a minute into the period. It would be Kings Kyle Clifford who would score shortly after the penalty expired to give the Kings the 4-0 lead.

In the final minute of the game Sharks Douglas Murray was given a two minute charging penalty while teammate Jamal Mayers and Kings Wayne Simmonds were assessed Misconducts.

Up into the Netting

Taking a look at the situation in Ottawa and who will be the perfect man for Murray to name as the next head coach for the Senators.

Anaheim Ducks Bobby Ryan had a supplementary hearing phone conference yesterday with the NHL offices where he received a two game suspension over an incident in game two against the Nashville Predators. Here is the offense in question:

Photo: Scott Niedermayer climbed the CN Tower.

The New York Rangers are down to the Washington Capitals 2-0 in their series and head coach John Tortorella had a few things to say in a press conference following yesterday’s practice in New York.

Today’s NHL Playoff Lineup

Washington Capitals at New York Rangers (Game 3; Capitals lead 2-0)
3:00 p.m. EST on TSN, NBC, RDS

Anaheim Ducks at Nashville Predators (Game 3; Series tied 1-1)
6:00 p.m. EST on TSN, RIS

Vancouver Canucks at Chicago Blackhawks (Game 3; Canucks lead 2-0)
8:00 p.m. EST on VERSUS, CBC, RDS